Posted on March 25, 2009 in News, Just for Fun

DrupalModules.com is a classic 'mashup' website, combining module information and downloads from the main drupal.org website with the ability to review, bookmark and vote for your favourites.

What's a mashup? From wikipedia:

In web development, a mashup is a Web application that combines data from one or more sources into a single integrated tool. The term Mashup implies easy, fast integration, frequently done by access to open APIs and data sources to produce results that were not the original reason for producing the raw source data. An example of a mashup is the use of cartographic data from Google Maps to add location information to real estate data, thereby creating a new and distinct Web service that was not originally provided by either source.

This is an example of how the new web interacts with the old by grabbing what it wants to and rearranging it, adding interactivity, making it more useful and having fun.

Not that there's anything wrong with this - in fact, it can make it easier for the resource provider as they only need to do what they do best: provide the resource. Let energetic young designers create interesting mashup tools that appeal to social users - as in the Drupal Modules example.

As a Drupal developer it is also another way of getting feedback from users, as it's far more friendly than the issues queue. I recently came across our Author Contact module on the Drupal Modules site and was pleased to note some great suggestions and positive feedback:

This module is terrific. Solid, reliable, customizable, works well the first time.

Excellent module. I use it to let people reply to ad listings. Embedded the block in a panel, so it looks great!

This module is simple but powerful module.

Wow, I'm blushing!

This kind of feedback is valuable to inspire me and the team to keep working on these modules, so thanks everyone and thanks Drupal Modules for providing a useful and interesting service.